The Raider (26 page)

Jess's hand fumbled for and found a letter opener on the desk. She wasn't going to let this man touch her.

“I will make you the happiest woman on earth. I will give you what that husband of yours cannot.”

“I will do my own giving, thank you,” came a voice from the doorway.

They turned to see Alex leaning against the door-jamb. He was wearing a pink coat and his wig that went down to his shoulders, but for all his soft appearance, his eyes were hard.

The lieutenant backed away from Jessica. “Sir, I meant no disrespect to the lady.”

The expression in Alex's eyes didn't change and Jess could see sweat beginning to trickle down the side of the lieutenant's face.

“I should get back,” the lieutenant murmured, edging around the desk and toward the door.

Alex stepped aside to let the young man pass, all the while never taking his eyes off him.

Jess was across the room in seconds. “You sure scared him, Alex,” she said. She tried to get past him and into the hallway, but he put his arm out and halted her.

“What are you doing in here?” There was no humor in Alex's face.

“The window was open and I—”

Alex grabbed her arm, lifted it and removed the letter opener she still held. “Don't lie to me, Jessica. Were you in here to meet that man?”

Part of her was startled, but part of her was relieved. “He's handsome, isn't he?”

Alex put his hand on her upper arm and squeezed. “If I ever catch you with another man I'll—”

“You'll what? Spend more time with the countess? Would you mind removing that?” she asked, looking down at his belly blocking her way. How dare he suggest she was doing what he'd been doing all week?

“Jessica,” Alex said, but she pushed past him and left the room. When she got to the foot of the stairs, she stuffed the document she held crumpled in her hand into the bosom of her dress and then went back to Mrs. Wentworth's tea party.

That evening, at the Montgomery house, Sophy cornered Jessica while she was doing the accounts. “Whatever did you say to Alex? He's been a regular bear all evening.”

“While I was in the admiral's office, some fresh young lieutenant came in the room and tried to arrange a meeting with me. Alex arrived before it went too far, but then Alex accused me of encouraging the man. As if I didn't have better things to do than run off with some silly English soldier.”

“Jealousy is good in a man,” Sophy said. “You should dress like that every day.”

“Dig clams in a red dress? The clams would laugh at me.”

“There are other things a lady can do besides dig clams.”

“Such as sew and flirt with handsome young men and scheme behind her husband's back?”

“I'm glad you don't scheme,” Sophy said sarcastically. “Jess, may I borrow your black cloak? I must make a trip outside.”

“Of course,” Jess said, not looking up from her ledger.

Sophy slipped the cloak over her shoulders, pulling the hood up over her head. She was halfway to the necessary when, out of the darkness, came a shadowy figure. An oddly accented voice she didn't recognize said, “I have waited for you.” Immediately, Sophy knew this was the notorious Raider and she knew he'd mistaken her for Jessica. Even though she knew this man was actually Alexander in disguise, it was difficult to remember. His eyes, hidden in the depths of the black mask, sparkled at her in dangerous glints.

She opened her mouth to explain the mistake but then felt a sword point at her throat.

“Not a word,” he said, his voice rumbling and sending chills through her body. “Remove your clothing.”

Sophy started to protest, but he pressed the sword deeper into her skin.

“Don't fight me tonight, Jessica. Tonight I take what is mine.”

The way he said it made Sophy eager to obey him. She looked into his eyes and she knew she wanted this man.

With trembling hands, she began to untie the laces of her dress. She had forgotten that she was not the woman he wanted. Her dress was unfastened to her waist before Alex realized his mistake.

“Sophy!” he gasped, taking his sword away from her throat.

The countess didn't know when such an overwhelming anger had flooded her before. Here this fabulous man was one second making delicious demands of her and the next he was sounding as if he were a naughty boy caught by his mother.

“Alexander!” she said in the same tone. “Whatever are you doing out there, skulking about in the dark?”

He grinned at her and Sophy felt herself succumbing to his charm. He was frightfully appealing in that black mask.

“I was waiting for Jessie.”

“Alexander, remove that mask.” She might deal with him better if he were familiar-looking.

“No,” he said, still smiling. “Is Jess inside?”

“What are you planning to do to her? What you just did to me? Alex, this has to stop. First you make her jealous of you as Alex, then you…you attack her dressed as something out of a play. You
have
to tell her the truth.”

“You like her, too, don't you?”

“Yes, I do and I'm sorry I ever conspired with you against her. I have to leave day after tomorrow and if you haven't told her by then, I will.”

The Raider, his sword lowered, leaned against a tree. “She's going to be angry with me.”

“And well she should be.”

The Raider stood up straighter. “But the rewards if I don't have to be secret with her anymore are staggering,” he said in a faraway voice, as if contemplating those rewards. “I can be Alex during the day but at night, alone with Jessica, I can be the Raider.”

“I envy her,” Sophy sighed, then came back to the problem. “You'll tell her?”

“Yes, I think it's time. Tomorrow I will take her out and
show
her who the Raider is.”

“Good,” Sophy said. “Now go before someone sees you.”

He kissed her mouth sweetly and then melted into the forest.

When Sophy returned to the small parlor where Jessica had been working on account ledgers, the room was empty. She found Jess in the little room off Alex's bedroom, everything a shambles about her.

“It's gone,” Jess said.

“What is?”

“The paper I found in the admiral's room. I wanted to wait until Alex was out of the house before I read it, but it's not here.”

“You lost it somewhere?”

Jessica looked up, her eyes wide. “No, I hid it.”

It took Sophy a moment to understand. “Then someone has stolen it. Someone knows what the admiral plans. I don't guess you had time to read it?”

“Not with Alex hovering over me. If Pitman found it and knew I was the one who'd taken it—”

“We will know very soon. Sit down and let's make plans. For all we know, one of the children found it and used it to make paper dolls, but if your Mr. Pitman does have it we'll have to get you out of Warbrooke before they try to hang you.”

“Yes,” Jess whispered and sat down.

A
LEX,
isn't it rather late to be out? I think, with your health, you should be home resting. Sophy says—”

“I don't want to hear what she has to say.”

Jess smiled in the darkness as she held onto the wagon seat. For a while he'd had his pretty countess all to himself, but now Sophy was spending more of her time with Jessica and the children than with Alex. The countess had planned to leave before now but this morning she had announced her intention of staying another couple of days. “Just until I see what happens,” she said but wouldn't explain her meaning.

“Are you warm enough?” Alex asked.

Jess pulled the long, hooded cloak about her more securely. “I'm not the one who's ill, Alex. I think we should go back.”

“Whoa,” Alex called to the two horses, pulling back on the reins. “Here we are.” He got down and went to Jess's side of the wagon to help her down, but she was already on the ground. “You can see all of Warbrooke from here,” Alex said as he began to unhitch the horses.

“Alex, it's ten o'clock at night. I think we ought to return home. Don't unhitch the horses.”

Alex continued what he was doing. He thought that Jess might be a little, well, perhaps just a shade angry when she heard that her husband and the Raider were one and the same. Of course, there was no reason for her to be angry, but who knew about women? There was always the possibility that she'd be sensible and realize that what he'd done, he'd done for his country and to protect her.

He attached an iron hobble to each horse. No, there was no remote possibility that she'd be sensible. It was much more likely that she'd be as unreasonable and difficult as she usually was.

He grinned in the moonlight. Of course he'd be able to calm her down. He'd stroke her and caress her and—

“Alex, what an odd little smile. Would you please tell me what it is that you came here to tell me, so we can get you home? This wet grass is going to ruin those new shoes of yours.”

He slipped his arm about her shoulders. “Come over to the ridge and we'll look at the view.”

Jess was impatient. “Alex, I have seen Warbrooke at night all my life. I have seen it from this view hundreds of times. Wait! Alex, have you bought a new ship? Is that what you want to tell me?”

He turned her toward him, his back to the village below. “Jessica, I came up here to tell you something much more important than that I bought a new ship.”

“There's a lugger for sale that we could use to—”

He put his finger to her lips. “Just listen to me, Jessica. Let's sit down here, so I can talk to you about men and women and trust and duty and honor.”

“All right, but if your feet or anything else freezes—”

“Sometimes people do things that they must. Perhaps to another person it may not seem to be something they
had
to do but—”

Jessica's mind began to wander, and as she half listened to Alex, she looked at the scene of the town below them. As she watched she saw moving torches. Someone must be unloading a ship at night, she thought.

“…and we learn to forgive each other and accept each other in spite of what we might consider flaws and we…”

Jess kept watching the scene below. The group of torches was moving faster now, away from the wharf. Frowning, she began to study the group harder. More torches were coming from down the streets.

“…of course, you did start this, Jessica, and if it hadn't been for you, much of this wouldn't have happened. I'm not really angry with you, but I do want you to remember that when I tell you…”

In the moonlight, Jessica began to see a moving form. She couldn't at first make out who it was, but as it came in their direction, she saw it more clearly.

Abruptly, she stood. “It's him,” she gasped.

Alex, still sitting, looked up at her. “Who is?”

“The Raider. That crowd down there is chasing him!”

With a knowing smile, Alex rose. “Jess, let me assure you that whoever they are chasing is not the Raider. It's probably a stowaway who just came in or some other such—”

“There!” she yelled, pointing into the trees. “There by the courthouse. It's him I tell you and—oh, God—look, they have him blocked off.” She lifted her skirts and began running toward the horses. “I have to help him.”

She'd never seen Alex move so quickly or even dreamed that he was capable of moving so fast. He ran up behind her, practically tore the black cape from her body, slung it over his own shoulders, then ran to the horses. He'd unhobbled a horse and mounted it bareback all in a split second, while Jess was still standing where she was.

“Get back to the house,” Alex yelled at her as he galloped away, forcing the wagon horse to move faster than it ever had.

Jessica was speechless. For a moment she couldn't comprehend what had just happened. One moment Alex had been whining about love and patriotism and the next he had galloped away while wearing a black cape.

Jess walked back to the ridge slowly, as if in a dream, and watched what was going on. She saw Alex tearing down the hillside and heading straight toward the crowd of torches, but then she lost him in the darkness. To her left she could barely see the movement of the Raider.

“My two men,” she said with a sharply drawn breath. Both her men being pursued by an army of English soldiers.

She caught sight of Alex again when the light of the torches briefly illuminated him. There was a moment of confusion while the men turned and started after Alex, leaving the Raider a way to escape the second group of soldiers.

All of them disappeared from her view.

Jess sat down on the ground, her face in her hands. Why is Alex doing such a foolish thing, she wondered. Why is he risking his health to help a man he considers an idiot?

Jess stayed on the ridge for an hour. She saw the torches reappear then disappear again into the forest. She saw pairs of them move down streets and alleyways and then back to the wharf.

“They've lost them,” she whispered and started toward the horse. She had to get home to help Alex. The Raider would disappear to wherever he lived—maybe into the arms of his loving wife—but Alex would need her.

It wasn't easy driving the wagon with a single horse in a two-horse harness down the steep hill, but Jessica didn't notice the difficulty. Her only concern was being there when Alex returned.

Since she'd been watching the searchers from the hillside, she had an idea where they might be, and avoided those places. She didn't want to meet soldiers and have to explain why her husband had taken the other wagon horse.

She made it back to the Montgomery house without seeing too many people or any English soldiers. After leaving the wagon to the bondsman who worked in the stables, Jess started back to their room.

But Sayer called to her, and before she knew what was happening, she was crying on the old man's shoulder and telling him what had happened.

“You love him, don't you?” Sayer said, stroking her hair. “You love my son more than you love your handsome, virile Raider?”

“Yes,” Jessica sniffed. “Alex whines and complains and he's an awful lot of trouble, but he really is a good man. He helps as much as he can, considering his state of health. But tonight was too much. He can't go riding like that. His health won't stand it.”

Sayer held her closer. “It's
your
health I'm worried about. I think it's time this charade ended.” He pulled her from him. “Go to your room and wait for Alex and tomorrow I want you both in here for four o'clock tea. Don't let Alex make excuses, but bring him here.”

“If he's well,” Jess sniffed. “I'd better heat some water. He'll need to soak his cold feet.”

Sayer smoothed his daughter-in-law's hair back. “Yes, pamper him tonight, because after tomorrow you may not feel so inclined.”

“What do you mean?”

“I'll tell you tomorrow. Now go and see to your husband. I'll see you at tea.”

“Yes, sir,” Jess said, kissed his cheek and then left the room.

*   *   *

“Who was it?” Alex asked Nick. Alex had barely escaped the king's soldiers and made it back to the Montgomery house, where he and Nick now stood in the dark, behind the stables.

“I have no idea,” Nick said, yawning. “As far as anyone has told me, your admiral had been told a ship carrying contraband was arriving. He planned to search the ship at night.”

“But someone dressed as the Raider led the soldiers away,” Alex stated flatly, concealing his anger. “Someone pretending to be me.”

“Where was your Jessica? She seems to—”

“With me,” Alex snapped. “I took her to McGammon Peak to tell her I was the Raider, but then she looked down and
there's
the Raider riding across the town, soldiers in back of him, soldiers in front of him. I barely got there in time before they closed in on the fool. I would never have done something so stupid.”

“Going to tell Jessica you're the Raider, eh?” Nick gave Alex a lopsided grin. “That little filly is going to let you know what she thinks of you.”

“Why do you think I took her so far out of town to tell her? I don't want Pitman hearing what she says to me.” In spite of his words of dread, Alex was smiling. “Truthfully, I'll be glad when she knows. There'll be no more secrets between us.”

“And no more separate beds.”

“Come on, let's get home,” Alex said, adjusting his wig. “I'll take Jess out tomorrow and tell her. Meanwhile, I plan to find out who this imposter is.”

*   *   *

Jessica had to wait a couple of hours before Alex returned, climbing in through the window. He looked awful. His clothes were wet and muddy, his wig askew, his face drawn and tired.

“Jess!” he gasped when he saw her. “You should be in bed.”

“So should you.” She helped him through the window, then led him to the bed and pushed him to sit. Instantly, she was at his feet, removing his wet shoes and hose and then wrapping his cold feet in a warmed towel.

“Jess,” Alex said, amusement in his voice. “What's this about? What are you doing?”

“Alex,” she said, looking up at him with pleading eyes, “you shouldn't run off like that. You could hurt yourself. Your heart can't withstand escapades like tonight.”

He was watching her. “You were worried about me?”

“Of course. Here, take off those clothes—all right, I won't look—and get into bed. And here's a dry wig if you think I can't bear the sight of a bald scalp. And I have soup for you. I'll feed you as soon as you're in bed.”

Alex stripped off his clothes in record time, pulled on the dry nightgown and wig and got under the covers. He slumped into an invalid-looking pose and called to Jess that he was ready.

She brought a bowl of hot soup to the bed, put a napkin under his chin and began to feed him. “Whatever made you run off like that?” she chided.

He looked at her over the spoon. “I didn't want your Raider caught. He means so much to you.”

Jess's eyes got watery for a moment. “Alex, you risked your life merely to save a man because I like him?”

Alex gave a shrug that said there was nothing else he could have done.

With a smile she leaned forward and kissed his forehead, then resumed feeding him. “That was very good of you, but your health means more to me than the Raider's. He can get himself out of trouble, he doesn't need—Alex! Are you all right?”

He caught her arm and pulled her back down to sit on the bed. “Repeat what you said.”

“I said the Raider seemed quite capable of getting himself in and out of trouble. I don't want you to risk—”

“No, tell me how my health means so much to you.”

He was holding her hands in his, his eyes like a hawk's.

Jess looked at her hands and blushed. “Well, Alex, maybe I've said a few things in the past, about your clothes and how you're so lazy and such, but I really do like you a great deal.”

“How much?”

Jess didn't look up.

“You like me enough to love me?”

Jess climbed into bed with him, wrapped her arms and legs about him, and put her head on his shoulder. “Alex, the Raider isn't real. He's just physical. I like you better, which is why I was so scared tonight. I may not have you for long, but I'm going to do everything I can to keep you alive as long as I can. Swear to me you won't go off chasing the Raider again.”

“I think I can do that,” Alex said, nestling Jess next to him.

“What was it you wanted to tell me tonight?” she asked sleepily.

“I don't think now is a good time,” he said, holding her. “I don't want anything to ruin this moment. I'll tell you tomorrow.”